Massive HomeKit improvements in iOS 11 include faster switching and much more powerful automation

You can tell from the numerous improvements iOS 11 brings to HomeKit that the standard has evolved into a core component of Apple’s smartphone operating system. Bluetooth-based accessories respond much quicker to user commands, and automation becomes much more powerful through presence detection and refined options for timers and conditions. Let’s take a look at the most significant changes.

Discover HomeKit’s new features
Apple has invested a great deal of effort in refining timers, triggers and conditions, all of which expand the versatility of HomeKit-enabled accessories. Below you’ll find a few examples and instructions to implement them using the Home app.
Please note: Automation requires a home hub in the form of an Apple TV (fourth generation), an iPad with iOS 11, or the upcoming HomePod.

Automation based on occupant arrivals
There’s a new option in the Home app’s automation section called, When People Arrive, which enables the activation of a scene when either the home owner or an invited guest arrives home.
Under When you can choose between two triggers: Anyone Arrives and The First Person Arrives. Tap the info button to select which person’s arrival should serve as a trigger.
Example: Heat the house to 22 degrees when the first person arrives.
If you have multiple homes, select the applicable one in Location. The Time option lets you refine your rule further by setting active and idle times (for example, become active 15 minutes before sunrise, become idle 30 minutes after sunset). The Specific times option lets you pick exact times, such as 9 AM to 10 PM.

Automation based on occupant departures
The When People Leave option follows the same principles. A possible scenario: Reduce heating to 18 degrees when the last person leaves. In iOS 11, HomeKit can determine who’s at home and who’s away, which significantly enhances personal automation configurations.

Combine timers and user presence
Timers also get smarter. In iOS 10, the Home app was capable of scheduling actions based on specific times, or at sunrise and sunset. In iOS 11, HomeKit still supports times relative to the sun’s position, like 30 minutes after sunset. But now, you can set a timer to only activate if people are present or absent. Example: Turn on the floor lamp in the family room 30 minutes after sunset, but only if I am home.

Control devices and use sensors
Under An Accessory is Controlled, HomeKit-enabled accessories – such as Eve Energy and Eve Door & Window – can already be used as triggers. The automation is triggered by a status change when, for example, a door or window is closed or opened, or a socket is switched on or off. Now, in iOS 11, the user also has the option to restrict execution according to times and people. Example: When the living room door is opened between sunset and sunrise, turn on the entertainment system, but only if I’m home.
The use of sensors such as Eve Motion is analogous, When motion is discovered …

Run scenes for a limited time
Thanks to iOS 11, scenes can finally be activated according to time references, e.g. Switch on the light in the corridor – for 5 minutes at sunrise on weekdays – when opening a door equipped with Eve Door & Window. You can use Home to create scenes that are only activated at a certain time, such as in the evening, during the day or specific periods of time. Example: Turn on the hallway light when the first user arrives home, but only between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Time conditions associated with daytime and nighttime can be used relative to sunrise and sunset. For example: If the user leaves the house during the day between 30 minutes after sunrise and 15 minutes after sunset, turn off all lights.

Time-limited scene with expiration and restricted HomeKit notifications
With iOS 11, scenes can be automatically deactivated after a fixed duration. This allows you to create a scene that will turn off lights after 10 minutes: Turn on the floor light for 10 minutes when the first user arrives home, but only between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Furthermore, until now, some HomeKit-enabled accessories (including Eve Door and Window, and Eve Motion) sent notifications every time a door was opened or closed, or whenever motion was detected. With iOS 11, you can finally choose to receive notifications only when you’re out of the house, and only at specific times.

Home and Eve
As of now, the aforementioned functions and many more can be tested across all Eve accessories. Bear in mind, though, that Apple’s Home app is required to configure most of our scenarios.
As was the case when iOS 10 was released last year, Elgato will again issue firmware updates and an updated version of Eve – free of charge – shortly after the official iOS 11 launch.

160 Comments

Hello from Belgium. Is there a rule that simulates “Away Mode” ? Away mode will randomly turn ON and OFF devices of your choice during a time period you selected. When a device is turned ON by the Rule, it will remain ON for a minimum of 30 minutes before turning OFF.

Hi Axel! You can set up rules/automations in Home that turn on a device like Eve Energy or Philipps Hur for a defined amount of minutes. Is this what you want to go for? Best regards, volker

Axel
on January 19, 2018 at 12:38 pm

Randomly ? During a period of time? For example from 20h to 5h … Eve energy turned on for 15 or 30 minutes before turning off and randomly … turn on automatically after 15 or 30 minutes and turn off after 15 or 30 minutes successively during the period to simulate that someone is there while I am away of my house

Is it, to your knowledge, possible to make scenes that contain rules and triggers? I want to use Eve Degree and Eve Energy in combination to act as a thermostat for my wall mounted electrical heaters. The way i picture it, I will make a scene for each target temperature. E.g. a scene named “21 degrees” that contains triggers in the form of a specific temperature (21˚) detected by Eve Degree that either turns on or off the Eve Energy devices connected to my heaters. I could add other scenes for other desired target temperatures. Of course, there is potensial for conflict if I activate more than one of these scenes at the same time.

I realise that I could make use of only triggers and rules to control my temperature, but then it will be difficult to make quick adjustments to the temperature manually.

The best solution would be if there was an application or setting that allowed Eve Degree and Eve Energy in combination to be presented and act as a single thermostat device in Home and Eve Home.

Hi roy! You can set up as many scenes with target temperature, as you like. But – scenes can’t contain rules as of today. Scenes can trigger rules though. Best regards, volker

Oy Ta
on January 18, 2018 at 10:07 pm

Hi! I have Elgato Energy and Elgato degree. With the Home app I can turn the Energy socket on or off when the first person arrives or when the last person leaves out home. With the Elgato app I can set up rule that turns the sockets on or off with temperature trigger. I want to combine these: a) If any one home – the clock is between x and y – turn on Eve Energy if temperature below 20 degrees. B)if any one home – the clock is between x and y – turn Eve Energy off if temperature is above 23,5. And similar. By using Eve Energy on my heaters I can by this only use them when necessary. Is this possible in any way?

Hi Oy Ta! Sorry, but this won’t work as of today. Both apps, Home and Eve are missing some parts to make this happen. We are constantly working on the app Eve to improve it. Home is not at all able to handle data rows like temperature as of today. Best regards, volker

Cristian van Loenen
on January 23, 2018 at 5:15 pm

I believe this is possible to setup using the paid app “Home”. You can define multiple event on a trigger and multiple restrictions including temperature between x and y,<=, etc.

Jay
on February 9, 2018 at 9:11 pm

Hey, is there anyway after I tell Siri to boil the kettle that it can turn the power off say 5 minutes after it’s boiled?